Soccer fanatic, Ethiopian by culture, Sudanese by blood, and a Carson through adoption. We met our son when he was a 17 year old senior in high school, and will celebrate his 4th "Gotcha Day" the week we return from our trip. He is the quietest loud person I've ever met. If you know him, you understand what I mean. I love when he gets in a talkative mood and will teach me something about Ethiopia or cooking. I could listen to him talk about Africa for hours!

When we told him we were going on this trip and wanted to bring him along he looked at us like we were crazy. He response was actually "I mean, I want to travel and go out of the country but could we go somewhere else? I mean ANYWHERE else?"

Sorry son, this is the trip we are raising money for.

Take it or leave it.

He said yes.

Writing is his least favorite thing to do in the world, so the following is an interview between us and him to give you a little perspective.

Q-You had to accomplish a lot in order to get your US citizenship in time for this trip. What was that process like?

A-Stressful work just to get a passport so I can leave the country!

Q-Why do you want to go on this trip?

A-Because it's a family trip and you guys (my parents) are helping pay for it. And it's kind of an adventure - something that is good to do and can hopefully help others that go after us. I don't know. It's a different kind of trip. We can't do a whole lot of things but just be ourselves in front of them I guess.

Q-What are you most excited about?

A-Leaving the country. Going to an Asian country I've never been to.

Q-What are you most nervous about?

A-Safety. And being the only black person quite possibly visiting that country. I don't like being different.

Q-Who would you rather sit next to on this LONG overseas flight: mom, dad, or little brother?

A-None of the above. I'll trade tickets with someone else!

Really? You don't want to spend time juggling him around like this??? :)

Q-Do you think this trip is important?

A-Yes. Because we will be helping change the views of stereotypes and building trust. The hard thing is we can't do a lot when we're there. It's weird. But I guess we can help work on relationships with people that hate us.

Q-Any other comments or thoughts?

A-Yes. Next time can we go somewhere like Thailand to a nice, warm beach?

The conversation above is just a snippet of what we talked about. It was interesting watching him think. Hearing broken thoughts roll off his tongue as thoughts became words. This isn't the dream family vacation most kids would love to go on. He still isn't excited. But he's curious. He knows the need for us to go. And what he doesn't understand is that people will be drawn to him, adoring his skin and quiet nature, his smile and how he relates to and plays with his brother.

This trip will have more impact from Kiir going than possibly any other person on our team.

Please join us in praying for Kiir.

Pray that he has peace.

Psalm 16:1

Pray for him to connect with one of our tour guides.

Ephesians 6:19

Deuteronomy 10:19

Pray that others see his amazing personality and his unique love for his brother.

Psalm 19:14

Pray that others are curious about adoption and ask more questions about it.

Romans 8:23

Pray for the concrete doors that in the past have been impenetrable, fall down and allow for hearts to change.

Hebrews 11:30

Ephesians 3:20

We are still not fully funded for this trip we leave on exactly 4 weeks from today.

If you would like to partner
with us, you can do so in 1 (or more) of 3 ways:

FIRST...
You can pray for our family and our team. We are a small team of 13 traveling
to this undisclosed location. We would greatly appreciate your prayers!

SECOND...
You can purchase a t-shirt and the proceeds will go towards our team traveling
funds.

If you would like to pre-order a shirt, please let us know ASAP!
Here is a picture in case you wanted to know what it will look like.

THIRD...
You can give financially! Flying a family of 4 across an ocean is not a cheap
endeavor. While we set aside money we have saved, it doesn't cover all of it by
any means. If you would like to help us fund the rest of this trip, you can send
a check, donate through PayPal (HERE) or
through our church online. Here is the info on how to pay through the church
website:

1. Go
to: http://firstirving.org/give
2. Create an account (or login if you have one)
3. Under "give to" scroll down and find "Korea 2014"
4. Then pick one of our names in the next box.
5. Put how much you want to give and method of payment.

If we raise more money
than we need for our family, the rest will go toward helping fund others going
on the trip, along with gifts we will take to the people we will be visiting.